340 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. LII 



few people, probably not over fifteen separate families. 

 Sportsmen who desire to fish for whitefish employ some 

 one who has a buoy located advantageously as a guide. 

 This guide ties the boat to his buoy. In a half day, from 

 six to twenty whitefish may be thus taken. No one is ex- 

 pected to tie to one of these buoys without the "owner's" 

 consent. The result then of this extensive stocking by 

 the state has been to enable a few local families and 

 guides to catch for their own use and to sell a few white- 

 fish. The general vacation transients are not benefited 

 nor is this excellent food fish taken in such numbers as 

 to yield any considerable amount of food. If the state 

 is to continue to restock such ponds as Lake Clear with 

 whitefish, then some better method should be devised to 

 take the whitefish. 



The fundamental reason why the extensive restocking 

 of Lake Clear has not been a success is due to the glacial 

 origin of the lake. The mere fact that the sand in which 

 the plants try to grow has been resorted by the glacial 

 waters until most of the organic material, plant food, has 

 been washed away, produces a very limited number of 

 aquatic plants. Such plants are indispensable as a source 

 of food for the numerous minute organisms upon which 

 fish normally feed. One can hardly appreciate what a 

 large number of different animals fish eat unless he has 

 given careful study to this problem. Baker (pp. 157- 

 199) gives a summary of the different kinds of animals 

 eaten by fish and the variety is in striking contrast to the 

 one abundant group of organisms (daphnia-cyclops) in 

 Lake Clear. In order to have a general growth of fish 

 in a lake, I believe that an abundance of several hinds of 

 fish food is indispensable. The conditions in Lake Clear 

 well illustrate how the species that can most successfully 

 utilize the form of food that is abundant survives and 

 greatly increases in numbers, while the others remain 

 few in numbers. 



The shores of Lake Clear are remarkably free from 

 dead fish and one rarely finds any dead fingerlings. It 



